The Power Of Words

GCSE English LanguageGCSE English Literature

Year Ten English Lessons

There are two key areas that we will focus on English in year ten:• Developing reading and writing skills• Completing English Language Unit Three

Controlled Assessment.

Unit One Language

• An exam taken at the end of year eleven.• Students read three texts and answers

questions about them.• Students produce two short pieces of writing

for a specific purpose and audience.

Unit One Language

To be successful students must be able to:• Make inferences• Offer interpretations• Use quotations• Make connections• Read an image• Analyse Language

With this in mind . . .

• We aim to make students curious about language.

• We want them to be observant and notice things about language and question how people use language . . .

It can be used to say stupid things

Peter Kay all about idiomatic expressions

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2nez3_peter-kay-stupid-things_fun

We want students to be able to appreciate how others use language to persuade and influence others and learn how to adapt their own language for a variety of purposes and audiences . . .

It can persuade and unite

One voice can change the world Obama speech 2.22 mins in length could show up to 1.22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRqLRLI0q4g

We want students to enjoy English and understand the power of language. We want students to be able to make connections between the texts that they read and the images that accompany it.They need to be able to evaluate how successful writers’ choices of language and images are.

For example

For example:

Here you would be expected to comment on:

The awkward-looking pose of the Prince!

The long, medium and close-up pictures – showing us the scale and height of the building and the abseil

The pun in the headline

The honest statement of fear in the sub-heading!

Also perhaps…•The amount of safety equipment•The army guy instructing him•The building itself and its name

Unit Three Language Controlled Assessment

• This comprises four pieces of writing produced in controlled conditions (high control):– Two pieces of creative writing– A piece of writing analysing spoken language– A piece of writing responding to a literary text (eg

‘Lord of the Flies’, ‘Great Expectations’) which assess their ability to read and interpret.

These are the same skills that are developed when studying unit one – inference, analysis, making connections, offering interpretations, crafting a piece of writing for a specific purpose and audience.

Controlled Assessment

This means:• Students have a time limit• Produced under the supervision of their

teacher but their teacher cannot help • They can not take a draft in with them• They cannot use the notes that they have in

their files.

The Challenge

Reducing their notes

And then expand them again

This means

• Students must take every opportunity to prepare thoroughly.

• Students should reread and review their notes.• They should complete short writing tasks for

homework and hand them to their teacher for feedback and guidance.

• They must talk to their teacher before the assessment lessons begin.

General Tips

• Read as widely as possible.• Encourage your child to read newspaper or

magazine articles and newspaper letters pages.• When a controlled assessment is approaching

they will have homework. Please ask them to talk to you about it.

• Encourage them to check their spelling, punctuation and grammar.